I am looking for a Powershell function to convert XML into a PsCustomObject which can finally exported as JSON. For this I created this small XML Test object:
[xml]$Xml = @"
<Action name="Test" id="1">
<Text>sample</Text>
<sub name="s1" id="2" />
<sub name="s2" id="3" />
<end details="no" />
</Action>
"@
This gives my an XML DocumentElement which I finally need to convert into the same object like the one from this call:
$Json = convertfrom-json @"
{
"Action": {
"name": "Test", "id": "1", "Text": "sample",
"sub": [
{"name": "s1","id": "2"},
{"name": "s2","id": "3"}
],
"End": {"details": "no"}
}
}
"@
Is there any smart way to get this done? I tested multiple functions from similar questions here but nothing really works as expected.
*** update *** based on the below answer from zett42 here is a working single function:
Function ConvertFrom-MyXml( $node ) {
$ht = [ordered] @{}
$node.Attributes.ForEach{ $ht[ $_.Name ] = $_.Value }
$node.ChildNodes.ForEach{
$key = $_.LocalName
$value = if( $_.FirstChild -is [xml.XmlText] ) {
$_.FirstChild.InnerText
} elseif( $_ -is [xml.XmlElement] ) {
ConvertFrom-MyXml $_
}
if( $ht.Contains( $Key ) ) {
$curValue = $ht[ $Key ]
if(!$curValue -isnot [Collections.Generic.List[object]] ) {
$curValue = [Collections.Generic.List[object]] @($curValue)
$ht[ $Key ] = $curValue
}
$curValue.Add( $Value )
}
else {
$ht[ $Key ] = $Value
}
}
$ht
}
CodePudding user response：
Because of the ambiguities, there is no standard way of converting XML to JSON. So you really have to roll your own function that interprets the XML in the way that matches your desired output.
Here is a generic solution:
Function ConvertFrom-MyXml( [xml.XmlNode] $node ) {
# Create an ordered hashtable
$ht = [ordered] @{}
# Copy the XML attributes to the hashtable
$node.Attributes.ForEach{ $ht[ $_.Name ] = $_.Value }
$node.ChildNodes.ForEach{
if( $_.FirstChild -is [xml.XmlText] ) {
# Add content of XML text node
Add-DictionaryArrayItem -Dict $ht -Key $_.LocalName -Value $_.FirstChild.InnerText
}
elseif( $_ -is [xml.XmlElement] ) {
# Add nested hashtable for the XML child elements (recursion)
Add-DictionaryArrayItem -Dict $ht -Key $_.LocalName -Value (ConvertFrom-MyXml $_)
}
}
$ht # Output
}
Function Add-DictionaryArrayItem( $Dict, $Key, $Value ) {
if( $Dict.Contains( $Key ) ) {
$curValue = $Dict[ $Key ]
# If existing value is not already a list...
if( $curValue -isnot [Collections.Generic.List[object]] ) {
# ...turn it into a list.
$curValue = [Collections.Generic.List[object]] @($curValue)
$Dict[ $Key ] = $curValue
}
# Add next value to the array. This updates the array in the hashtable,
# because $curValue is a reference.
$curValue.Add( $Value )
}
else {
# Key doesn't exist in the hashtable yet, so simply add it.
$Dict[ $Key ] = $Value
}
}
[xml]$Xml = @"
<Action name="Test" id="1">
<Text>sample</Text>
<sub name="s1" id="2" />
<sub name="s2" id="3" />
<end details="no" />
</Action>
"@
ConvertFrom-MyXml $Xml | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 100
Output:
{
"Action": {
"name": "Test",
"id": "1",
"Text": "sample",
"sub": [
{
"name": "s1",
"id": "2"
},
{
"name": "s2",
"id": "3"
}
],
"end": {
"details": "no"
}
}
}
- Function
ConvertFrom-MyXmloutputs an ordered hashtable. There is no need to convert toPSCustomObjectasConvertFrom-Jsonworks with hashtables as well. So we can keep the code simpler. ConvertFrom-MyXmlloops over attributes and elements (recursively) of the given XML node. It calls the helper functionAdd-DictionaryArrayItemto create an array if a key already exists in the hashtable. Actually this is not a raw, fixed-size array (like@(1,2,3)creates), but a dynamically resizableList, which behaves very similar to an array but is much more efficient when adding many elements.- Note that a single
subelement won't be turned into an array. If some elements should always be converted to arrays, you'd have to pass some kind of schema to the function (e. g. a list of element names) or add metadata to the XML itself.
As suggested by OP, here is an alternative version of the code, that consists of only a single function:
Function ConvertFrom-MyXml( [xml.XmlNode] $node ) {
$ht = [ordered] @{}
$node.Attributes.ForEach{ $ht[ $_.Name ] = $_.Value }
foreach( $child in $node.ChildNodes ) {
$key = $child.LocalName
$value = if( $child.FirstChild -is [xml.XmlText] ) {
$child.FirstChild.InnerText
} elseif( $child -is [xml.XmlElement] ) {
ConvertFrom-MyXml $child
} else {
continue
}
if( $ht.Contains( $Key ) ) {
$curValue = $ht[ $Key ]
if( $curValue -isnot [Collections.Generic.List[object]] ) {
$curValue = [Collections.Generic.List[object]] @($curValue)
$ht[ $Key ] = $curValue
}
$curValue.Add( $Value )
}
else {
$ht[ $Key ] = $Value
}
}
$ht # Output
}
CodePudding user response：
Might not be exactly what you're looking for but I would personally do this with classes:
class Sub {
[string] $Name
[Int] $Id
Sub([string] $Name, [int] $Id) {
$this.Name = $Name
$this.Id = $Id
}
}
# Windows PowerShell will not like it named End :)
class End2 {
[string] $Details
End2 ([string] $Details) {
$this.Details = $Details
}
}
class Action {
[string] $Name
[int] $Id
[string] $Text
[Sub[]] $Sub
[End2] $End
Action () { }
Action ([string] $Name, [int] $Id, [string] $Text, [object[]] $Sub, [End2] $End) {
$this.Name = $Name
$this.Id = $Id
$this.Text = $Text
$this.Sub = @( $Sub )
$this.End = $End
}
[string] ToJson() {
return @{ Action = $this } | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 99
}
}
Now you can instantiate and convert to to Json your Action class like this:
[Action]::new(
'Test', 1, 'Sample',
@(
[Sub]::new('s1', 2)
[Sub]::new('s2', 3)
),
'No'
).ToJson()
Or like this:
([Action]@{
Name = 'Test'
Id = 1
Text = 'Sample'
Sub = @(
[Sub]::new('s1', 2)
[Sub]::new('s2', 3)
)
End = 'No'
}).ToJson()
Both would output the following Json:
{
"Action": {
"Name": "Test",
"Id": 1,
"Text": "Sample",
"Sub": [
{
"Name": "s1",
"Id": 2
},
{
"Name": "s2",
"Id": 3
}
],
"End": {
"Details": "No"
}
}
}